Saturday, December 23, 2006

Putting The Fun In Dysfunctional

Tonight I talked on the phone with my brother Joel from New York (2nd from left in this photo) I was ever so politely informed that I have to blog nice things about him because he's busting his butt to get to Denver for Christmas after the blizzard shut down the airport and cancelled his flight.

After a long exchange involving me taunting him that I will NOT be told what to blog, and him demanding again in his ever-so-polite way that involved all capital letters that went like this: "YOU BETTER BLOG THAT I'M COMING DESPITE THE BLIZZARD TO SPEND 24 HOURS WITH YOU AFTER SPENDING THREE DAYS ON THE PHONE WITH THE AIRLINE,"

Joel and I started cracking up about how we were both insulting each other.

"Aren't we great?" Joel said. "We're SO DYSFUNCTIONAL."

Yeah, and we're proud of it. How sick is that?

This picture is of my family. My brothers and sister -- Jill on the left, Joel, and Jeremy up top, and Jeff on the right. I'm center front with the bad reflection from my glasses.

The 5 J's.

In order, we're Jeff, Jill, Julie, Joel & Jeremy. Mom used to yell at us in order and stop at the kid she was actually yelling at.

We couldn't be more different in some respects...but in others we're so alike it's scary.

One is that we move heaven and earth to be together when it counts. Jill was here for us when Jacob was born. This picture was taken at Jeff's house after he threw "Joel-a-palooza" -- a party at Jeff's farm for Joel and his Seattle/Portland friends who were brave enough to come to Outback Oregon and spend a few days in a tent partying with all of us. Jeremy drove from near the Canadian border to join us, and I flew from Denver.

I love my brothers and sister so much -- We're a motley crew of family that ranges from Jeff, known as the smartass in the family (seriously, he has it going for him more than me), Jill, The Boss -- Me in the middle, the Rebel -- Joel, the Artist, and Jeremy, the one without an internet connection at home so he can't read what I write about him anyway. But for some reason, we're not sure why, he has a mouth on him too and stands his ground.

Today, with a lot of snow on the ground, and us Coloradans just digging out, I realized how much little things like weather can suddenly screw up our plans. My Mom decided to reschedule her trip and spend Christmas with Jill, Jeff & Jeremy in Washington instead of spending the weekend in line at PDX trying to get to Denver for a flight she probably wouldn't get on anyway.

I like to think of her as the smart one.

But Joel -- Joel is coming anyway, and it looks like with the airport fully functional he might actually make it. His stay is so short, he may not even need to bring a change of underwear, but he's moving Heaven & Earth to be here for me.

As we laughed about our exchange of insults tonight, including me calling him crazy for doing all this, I said "You know I would do this for you too," and he said "That's what I was telling my friends tonight when they thought I was nuts."

I sure would buddy.

I love you Joely-Oh. You are the best. Just don't tell Jeff, Jill or Jer.

They might get jealous and call to taunt me about it. And Lord knows, they don't need anymore ammunition.